


Butterflies

by SteelLily



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Tumblr Prompt, audition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 12:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3381815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteelLily/pseuds/SteelLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angie's got an audition tomorrow and needs Peggy's help.</p><p>Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters and I make no claim to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic. I would love feedback so I can improve future works.  
> This is purposely fairly innocent because it started as a Tumblr prompt from Tumblr user: peggysmartinelll.  
> I hope y'all like it.

Peggy pushed through the revolving door into the L&L. She made a visual sweep of the room instinctively. The dining room was mostly empty save two patrons sitting at tables in the center of the diner. Angie was bent over a booth, gathering plates left behind by its last occupants. The corners of Peggy's lips lifted slightly. Angie placed a cup on top of her dish pile and whirled around. 

"Hey there, English!" Angie smiled, filling her whole face with a glow of joy, "Booth or counter kinda day?"

Peggy studied the creases around Angie's eyes and carved laugh lines around her smile. Peggy shrugged her jacket off her shoulders and laid it carefully over her arm. "Counter, I believe," Peggy smiled sincerely for the first time that day.

Angie bounded behind the counter to the sink and dumped in the dishes. She swung around and grabbed a coffee mug in one hand and the pot in the other, filling the cup as she floated toward Peggy. It was a dance Peggy loved watching. Angie flit around like a butterfly in a sort of tumbly, contained chaos.  
Peggy, now sitting at the end of the counter, held her coffee between her hands, letting the warmth flow up her arms and over her face. "Rough day, hun?" Angie sang.

"I'm sorry?" Peggy asked.

"That'll be a yes, then," Angie winked and bumped shoulders with Peggy as she went past. "I asked if you'd had a rough day."

"Ah yes. Let's just say I'm glad to have the evening to myself," Peggy sighed.

"Ooh. Got any big plans, English?" Angie leaned over the counter opposite of Peggy in a play whisper.

Peggy smiled shyly. With Angie this close she could smell the soft hint of what remained of Angie's perfume mixed with the greasy scents of the kitchen. "Oh I don't know. I thought perhaps to curl up with a book and some hot tea."

Angie giggled and covered her mouth. 

"What?" Peggy asked. She defensively crossed her legs at the ankle and straightened her posture.

"You're such a grandma."

Peggy rolled her eyes and shook her head good naturedly, relaxing back against the seat but still keeping her ankles crossed.

"It's cute," Angie whispered as she bumped Peggy with her hip on the way to refill another customer's coffee.

Peggy smiled into her coffee mug, feeling her cheeks pink slightly. She took a sip and swished the liquid in her mouth for a moment before swallowing. Angie slipped back around the counter and slapped her hands down, drawing Peggy's attention. "So here's an alternate idea. Now just hear me out English. How 'bout you give your best pal a hand with an audition I've got tomorrow?"

"Oh Angie, I don't know. I'm really rather dreadful at acting," Peggy shook her head.

"Come on! I'll bring some Schnapps and snag some ice cream from the freezer," Angie waggled her eyebrows, "It's reading. You don't even really have to act. Just read the part out loud," Angie pleaded.

"Oh I don't know," Peggy looked away from Angie's now pouting face.

"I wouldn't bother ya really 'cept they got me acting opposite somebody in the audition instead of a normal monologue. It'll be fuuuuuun," Angie sang.  
Peggy smiled at Angie and nodded, "Okay, why not?"

"Really?" Angie squealed and raced around to hug Peggy, "Thanks, Peg, you're the best."

From behind them, the revolving door make a whoosh sound as a group of people filed in. Angie circled back around the counter and grabbed a handful of menus and a bundle of papers, the latter she tossed in front of Peggy.

The group piled into a booth and began talking loudly. Peggy thumbed through the script, half listening to the conversation behind her. "It starts on page 45," Angie said over her shoulder.

She grabbed the coffee pot and five mugs, "Ends on 48."

Peggy flipped to 45 which was conveniently dog eared. She read down the page and slowly sipped her coffee. "No wonder she can't get work, this writing is terrible," Peggy muttered to herself. She continued flipping pages until she reached 48.

Peggy took a swig when her eyes caught the final stage direction.

(John takes Marilyn in his arms, stares longingly into her eyes and kisses her softly.)

Peggy snorted her coffee, throwing her into a coughing fit. She involuntarily spat coffee on the counter. Peggy was already dabbing at the mess on the table when 

Angie ran up and patted her back, "Oh my god, are you okay, English?"

Peggy cleared her throat, "Yes, fine. It's just...are you sure you want my help? Isn't there someone else you'd rather have help you?" Peggy squeaked between throat clearings.

"What? Oh, you mean cause of the kiss? We ain't gotta do that, English," Angie leaned in closer, "Unless ya wanna," she winked.

Peggy coughed again and hoped the red she felt rushing to her cheeks could be attributed to the coughing. Angie walked away, shaking her head and giggling to herself. Peggy composed herself and closed the script. She opened her purse and pulled a quarter out then sat it on the table by her mug. She climbed off the chair and pulled her coat back on.

Peggy reluctantly tucked the script under her arm and grabbed her purse. "I'm off in an hour, English. See ya back at the Griffith," Angie waved.  
Peggy nodded and pushed back out through the door. She pulled her coat tight around her shoulders and moved the script from her armpit. Peggy sighed. A kiss. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and up to her head. Her thoughts swam in potential. Peggy shook the thoughts loose, the tighter she clung to her coat along the dusk lit streets.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conclusion to Butterflies Chapter 1

Peggy placed her heels next to the radiator then took a moment to warm her hands. Her feet ached, her head ached and she now added to the list a bit of heartache. She looked back at the script that laid on the table in front of her cabinets. 

Peggy took her metal teapot to the bathroom sink where she filled it with water then returned to her electric skillet and placed it on top. She sat down on her daybed and leafed through the script trying to get an idea of this character Angie was auditioning for so she could help as much as possible...as well as to take her mind off the last item on the last page of audition segment.

Marilyn, a street savvy ne'er do well, fell in love with a dashing rogue with a secret and said things like "Oh golly mister." 

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Such drivel."

Over her shoulder, the teapot started singing. She took a teacup from the cupboard, placed a packet of chamomile then poured the water on top. She walked back to her bed, after leaving the tea on the table, and started reading again. She was nearly to the end and her tea since drained when a quick three hard taps on her door brought her back down to earth. "Hey English, you in there?"

"It's open, Angie," Peggy said, curling her legs beneath her.

Angie clumsily fell through the door, "As promised, Schnapps and ice cream. I hope chocolate's okay cause it's all I could snag without gettin' caught."

"Mmmm. My favourite," Peggy smiled. She started to move off the bed.

"Uh uh, don't move a muscle, English. You just sit right there."

Peggy smiled watching Angie flutter around her kitchenette, grabbing mugs and spoons. She plopped on the bed across from Peggy, bottle under her arm, two mugs dangling off the fingers of one hand and the plastic cup she "borrowed" to transport the ice cream along with two spoons in the other. "A spoon, milady," Angie giggled.

Peggy smiled as she happily took the spoon and immediately dug into the ice cream. She closed her eyes and made a slight yummy sound as the ice cream hit her tastebuds. "God, Ang, that's good."

"Hey I owe ya so have all ya want," she said taking a sip of Schnapps. 

"So tell me," Peggy started between bites, "what do you feel like motivates your character, Marilyn?"

"Oh I dunno. She just wants to be somebody, ya know? To be seen and loved. Didya read the whole thing, Peg?" Angie flipped through the script.

Peggy took a sip of her drink, "Mostly. I thought if I was going to help you out, I should do it properly. Really dig into the psyche of this Marilyn woman."

Angie's eyes glistened with stifled laughter. "Gosh, Peg, if I'd a known you was gonna be that into it I'd a asked ya for help sooner."

"I don't do things halfway. I either go all the way or not at all," Peggy shrugged.

"You're intense, English," Angie swallowed the last of her Schnapps and hopped off the bed. She sat the mug on the table and turned her back to Peggy. 

Angie shook her shoulders and buzzed her lips to loosen up. Peggy felt the corners of her lips curving upward involuntarily for the second time that day while she watched Angie.

"Okay!" She clapped, "Page 45 take it from the top."

Peggy cleared her throat and quickly debated an accent and lowering her voice. "Just be you, English. You ain't gotta do a character."

"Thank God. All right here goes. Marilyn, I already told you. You can't come with me. This ain't no place for a dame," Peggy struggled to choke out the last line.

"But Johnny, you promised me. You promised I could see Atlantic City," Angie poured on the melodrama.

"Where I got to go, ain't no place for broads. You'll just end up getting yourself hurt. God, Angie, I'm sorry but this is terrible."

"Shh!" She demanded, "Johnny I'm strong. I can handle anything you can."

"Now sorry to interrupt but do you want me to read you the stage directions? Or are we just ignoring that for now?"

"Let's just make sure I got my lines right now. Then if ya feel up to it we can do some blockin'. Okay. Sorry no more interruptions."

They continued running lines for an hour and three mugs full of Schnapps, laughing more and more and practicing less and less.

"All right all right. We must be serious, Angela," Peggy said through snorting laughter.

"As a heart attack, Margaret," Angie giggled.

Peggy got up and headed to the bathroom. "I'll be right back," Angie called through the closed door, "gonna pop on my pajamas."

"An excellent idea," Peggy replied. After washing her hands, she pulled her satin nightgown off the hook behind the door and replaced her clothes with the cool red fabric. She sighed contentedly before taking her robe and wrapping herself in it.

Peggy walked back into her main room and poured herself and Angie the last of the Schnapps. She took a drink and Angie tumbled back into the room in her yellow robe, her blue satin pajama pants showing underneath. "Down to the last," Peggy said and handed the mug back to Angie.

"We're gonna go broke draining bottles the way we do and why do I always seem tipsier than you?" Angie asked as she fell cross legged onto the ground.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Peggy winked, "All right. Are we going to block this out now or what?"

"Yup," Angie hopped up a little less gracefully than she got down.

Peggy gulped the last of her Schnapps and took the script with her to the middle of the room. Angie mirrored, finishing her drink and sitting the cup on the vanity at her back.

"Okay, English, where'd ya want me?"

"In my arms," Peggy read, "John's," she cleared her throat, "In John's arms."

"Now you've let it slip," Angie smiled, "You want to hold me close in your arms and stare lovingly into my eyes."

Peggy stared a hole through the paper and clenched her jaw. "Breathe, English. I'm just joshin' ya. Though you are cute when you're angry."

Peggy pursed her lips and raised her eyebrow at Angie, "You are quite the comedian."

Angie bowed elaborately. "I live to entertain," she winked.

Angie hopped in front of Peggy and planted herself inches from her face. "Now hold me, John."

Peggy grinned and pulled Angie into her arms. Angie put her head on Peggy's shoulder and tilted her face up. Peggy's heart sped. She quietly took a deep breath to calm it, praying Angie did not notice. "What now?" Angie asked.

Peggy lifted the script over Angie's head and read her lines. Angie snuggled into Peggy's arm and said her lines. Peggy closed her eyes briefly during Angie's monologue about being a strong woman and smelled the soft scent of roses in her hair. She felt her pulse speed again and the butterflies returned to her stomach.

Angie twisted in Peggy's arm to look up at her. She whispered, "it's your line."

"I have to protect you. A man's job is to protect the woman he loves," Peggy looked down at the tiny waif in her arm.

"Are ya sayin' ya love me, Johnny?" Angie pushed back from Peggy's chest and placed her hand on Peggy's waist. Angie's voice dropped and became breathy, "you love me?"

Peggy searched Angie's face so close to her. Her liquid blue eyes danced in anticipation of a reply. Peggy absently traced a circle on Angie's back. She cleared her throat and looked back at the script in her hand.

Angie tentatively reached up to Peggy's face. She touched her cheek. Peggy closed her eyes. She felt Angie straighten in her arm and draw her face closer. Butterflies. All Peggy felt were butterflies floating under her skin, across her body.

Angie's hand shifted from Peggy's cheek to the back of her neck. Her body tingled. She curled her toes under and her breath caught. Angie drew Peggy's head toward her until their lips were a fraction of an inch apart. "You ok with this, English?" Angie whispered.

Peggy nodded nearly imperceptibly and breathed, "Please."

Angie smiled and closed the gap, it was a soft brushing of lips at first. Peggy let the script fall from her fingers and pulled Angie closer to her body. Angie grinned when they separated. This time, Peggy pulled Angie in close and kissed her more fiercely, one hand on Angie's cheek, the other on her waist.

The push and pull of energy between them nearly took on a life of its own. When they finally pulled apart panting, Angie's knees gave a little. She stumbled slightly, smiling dopily. "Wow, English. I'd a never guessed."

Peggy's lips curved sheepishly. "We all have secrets."


End file.
